Club Profile 2012-13: Buducnost Voli Podgorica

Perennial Montenegrin champion KK Buducnost Voli Podgorica returns to the Eurocup for the fifth time in six seasons eager to keep competing against the best teams in the competition. Buducnost survived the regular season and went past the Last 16 with a critical home win against Krka Novo Mesto to make it to the Quarterfinals, in which Valencia took the two-way series on points differential. Buducnost has won the Montenegrin League and the Montenegrin Cup every season since the country became independent. It also reached the Adriatic League final four, losing against eventual champion Maccabi Electra. Founded in 1949, Buducnost worked for more than 30 years to reach the first division of the former Yugoslav League and another decade more to cement its place in that competition. By the end of the century, however, it was the team to beat in one of the world’s most concentrated areas of basketball talent and devotion. Buducnost started with Yugoslav Cup titles in 1996 and 1998, but the best was about to come. Three straight Yugoslav League titles were forged by a record-setting domestic winning streak of 51 games that ran from 1999 to 2001. Players like Dejan Tomasevic, Milenko Topic and Vlado Scepanovic helped make it all possible. Another cup trophy made for a league-cup double in 2001. Buducnost was also a force in the 2000-01 Euroleague, where it reached the playoffs. The club returned to the Euroleague for the next two years, but failed to reach the Top 16. A quieter period followed during which Buducnost took part in the ULEB Cup, though it missed the elimination rounds in 2004 and 2005. Buducnost reached the Serbia and Montenegro League semifinals in its last appearance in that competition. Buducnost naturally became the new team to beat in the reborn Montenegrin League and has won six consecutive titles since 2007 with a combined 103-2 record - which says plenty about its dominance. Buducnost was close to making the Adriatic League final four in 2009-10 and missed out on the Eurocup after falling to Brose Baskets by a single point in the Qualifying Round. In 2010-11, Buducnost came up short in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Round and the Eurocup Regular Season, but won got the Montenegrin double and reached the Adriatic League final four, where it lost against Partizan mt:s Belgrade in the semifinals. By reaching the Adriatic League final four, the Eurocup Quarterfinals and staying unstoppable at home, Buducnost can look to a bright future and is set to stay highly competitive in 2012-13.